Scotland's Housing Expo

[EccentricAnomaly]

I went round the Housing Expo in Inverness on Monday (and the Findhorn Foundation yesterday).

At the expo they've built 50 "sustainable" houses by different architects.  They'll be open to the public throughout August then sold off (or, in a couple of cases, rented out).  It was moderately interesting though you have to bear in mind that all the houses are just built for an estate for fairly light-green purchasers. 

One plus point was that most of the guides in the houses were building technology or similar students so pretty interested and willing to chat (though how they'll be at the end of the month is a different question).

Some disappointments:

0. Even on the second day things were clearly not finished - some work was still going on in many of the houses and bits had obviously been left undone (wires cut short, bits of trim missing and so on).  The landscaping was all but non-existent.  An accurate, if not ideal, exposition of the British building industry, perhaps, though the whole thing does seem to have been put together pretty quickly and there were a couple of comments that there'd been some delays early on from the bad weather at the beginning of they year.

1. Only a couple were PassivHouse level or thereabouts: most were around 100 to 120 kWh·m⁻²·year⁻¹.

2. Signs and so on did not explain the details of the houses.  I found a solar fed thermal store in a cupboard in one house but the guide had no idea of any details.

3.  Also, build costs, in most cases seemed to be regarded as proprietary information (the girls in one house did quote a plausible figure equivalent to £1000/m²).  The staff often didn't have even basic additional information (insulation materials used were sometimes not known, for example).  A few did promise to find out more.

I think I actually learned more from earwigging other's conversations (e.g., a pair of construction technology lecturers from, I think, Stirling) who were playing building inspector for laughs.

I got a season ticket and plan to go back again later in the month.  Any other Navifauna going and want to meet up?

[Eleanor]

I've been planning on going along at some point during the month. I'm really intrigued now after reading your comments so it's definitely in the diary. Meeting up to compare notes sounds like a good idea 

[Baz]

http://www.scotlandshousingexpo.com
their server is rubbish but sometimes spits up some info.
My god they are ugly buildings.

I still remember an equivalent in Milton Keynes way back in about 1981. Even then one house had solar water heating. A couple or three of those houses were really nice but the website doesn't show the best, the Sunday times house. http://www.thimkagain.co.uk/mk/home-world.htm
The Futurehome 200 on this site was actually two pokey little Barrets houses stuck together, and it was still pokey. The garage was so small if you drove a car into it you couldn't open the door!

[tony.]

the problem with building in general, is that tradesmen are on price work bonus, so most will pay little attention to work that will be hidden.
slight effort is put into 2nd fix work.
also there is a lack of site supervison/CoW that used to make snag lists while work was on going.
my first flat in edinburgh was a new build, it was the first block to be built.
i had 2 a4 pages of snags, some major  some minor but no one was checking these items, luckily as the builders were still constructing the other flats i was able to hassle the site 'agent'.

one day i came back from offshore and the 'foreman' joiner was complaining that the door closer screws kept coming out a little bit, bear in mind it was a metal door, he wasnt using self tappers, was using a wood screw that the thread stopped 1/4 " from the top, and he was the foreman!!

never mind the snags you dont see unless you pull the plasterboard and flooring off.
i think uk building is pretty poor.
only small companies who dont sub contract labour out will probably do a decent job.

a few years later went to look at ahouse, and mentally snagged the house as I walked around, and if that was a showroom, i would hate to see the standard in the normal houses.

tony

[hiccup]

Love the last paragraph on the homepage...

"Insert the following text at the end of the fourth paragraph: See below for up to date views of the houses on view at the Scotland's Housing Expo site."

Unforgivable!

Hic!

[djh]

Inverness is a bit of a way to go  Especially if I'm wearing green wellies with steel toecaps.

So which if any of the houses have anything worthwhile looking at on the website?

[Eleanor]

A season ticket costs £10 and if I don't get my moneys worth out of it I'll be demanding a refund 
I shall be going with an open mind and if I can learn something I'll be happy (even if it's what I don't like) 

[dhaslam]

It must be the air up there, more Scottish than the Scots already.